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JEFF Horn’s team suspects the injury to Terence Crawford that has caused the shock postponement of their Las Vegas world title fight is only sleight of hand and that the frightened challenger is desperately trying to buy more time.

Horn and Crawford were due to fight on April 15 at the Mandalay Bay Casino in Las Vegas but Crawford announced that he had injured his right hand in sparring and would need to reschedule his challenge for Horn’s world welterweight title.

Camera IconJeff Horn will have to cool his heels for a few more weeks.Picture: Getty Images

“It’s a case of ‘harden up Princess’. Jeff needed eight stitches in a head wound before his last fight (against Gary Corcoran) and still went ahead with it.

“From what we’ve heard Crawford has suffered only a slight injury and it could easily be treated with a cortisone injection. Jeff has fought with much worse injuries than that.’’

Promoters Dean Lonergan and Bob Arum are looking at rescheduling the fight on May 19 again at the Mandalay Bay.

Horn said he hoped that Crawford’s injury was genuine and that the American, regarded by many as the best boxer in the world, was not just using it as ploy to throw the Australian world champ off his game.

“If it was us in the same position I know that Jeff would definitely fight. At the moment he is flying and we were so ready for April 15.

“For Terence to stall the fight like this is really soft. You look at the great Queensland rugby league players and what they go through. Some of them have played with broken arms or with cuts on their heads that were stapled together at half time.’’

Horn said he and Rushton would treat the postponement as a positive.

“It just means that Terence is not as tough as we thought,’’ Horn said.

“I’m going to train extra hard now and on fight night I’ll expose that lack of toughness. I’m bigger and stronger than him and now I know I’m much tougher too.’’

Horn will maintain his rigorous training schedule and sparred with world No.3 junior-middleweight Dennis Hogan, who faces World No.4 Jimmy Kilrain Kelly at the Brisbane Convention Centre on April 7.

Lonergan said he hoped the change in date would mean that two of Horn’s greatest supporters, Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and Major Events minister Kate Jones, would be able to attend the Vegas fight as their commitments to the Commonwealth Games will be over.

Crawford’s promoter Bob Arum said: “There’s no ligament tear, nothing, (Crawford) took the MRI and so forth. He has to rest it for a couple of weeks. So we’ll probably do (the fight) sometime in May or maybe the first weekend in June.’’